Studying climate change offers a uniquely engaging and relevant opportunity for students to master understanding in the Maine Learning Results Unifying Themes (systems, scale, models, and constancy and change) and many of the physical and Earth Science learning standards, and to gain motivation and skill in scientific inquiry. Through the Connecting Climate to Curriculum (C’s to Shining C) teacher professional development project, our aim is to help teachers:
Develop good pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for the teaching of Earth/climate science.
Deepen understanding of fundamental concepts such as density, pressure, energy, and energy transfer by studying how these factors affect Earth's climate system.
Develop an interdisciplinary approach to studying climate change, using science skills to gather observations and interpret data, math skills to summarize and represent data, language arts to communicate findings, and social studies to understand implications for society.
Establish a regional consortium of educators who are able to work together, share resources, provide mutual support, model effective practices, and disseminate their gains to their greater educational community.
The project will accomplish these objectives working with a group of 24-30 middle and high school science teachers from CTE Region IV (from four regional school districts and the regional CTE), University of Maine scientists, and the professional development director at the Challenger Learning Center of Maine. The project includes a series of interconnected monthly workshops developing fundamental concepts and pedagogical practices, the practices of Lesson Study and Classroom Action-Research, year-end summit sessions with administrative staff, and week-long summer institutes with University researchers.
- Develop good pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for the teaching of Earth/climate science.
- Deepen understanding of fundamental concepts such as density, pressure, energy, and energy transfer by studying how these factors affect Earth's climate system.
- Develop an interdisciplinary approach to studying climate change, using science skills to gather observations and interpret data, math skills to summarize and represent data, language arts to communicate findings, and social studies to understand implications for society.
- Establish a regional consortium of educators who are able to work together, share resources, provide mutual support, model effective practices, and disseminate their gains to their greater educational community.
The project will accomplish these objectives working with a group of 24-30 middle and high school science teachers from CTE Region IV (from four regional school districts and the regional CTE), University of Maine scientists, and the professional development director at the Challenger Learning Center of Maine. The project includes a series of interconnected monthly workshops developing fundamental concepts and pedagogical practices, the practices of Lesson Study and Classroom Action-Research, year-end summit sessions with administrative staff, and week-long summer institutes with University researchers.